University of Technology Sydney

11 articles published in JoVE

• Bioengineering

  
  Cardiac Spheroids as in vitro Bioengineered Heart Tissues to Study Human Heart Pathophysiology Poonam Sharma^1,2,3,4, Carmine Gentile^{2,3,4 1}University of Newcastle, ²University of Sydney, ³Kolling Institute of Medical Research, Royal North Shore Hospital, ⁴University of Technology, Sydney This protocol aims to fabricate 3D cardiac spheroids (CSs) by co-culturing cells in hanging drops. Collagen-embedded CSs are treated with doxorubicin (DOX, a cardiotoxic agent) at physiological concentrations to model heart failure. In vitro testing using DOX-treated CSs may be used to identify novel therapies for heart failure patients.

• Biology

  
  Tethered Bilayer Lipid Membranes to Monitor Heat Transfer between Gold Nanoparticles and Lipid Membranes Amani Alghalayini^1,2, Lele Jiang¹, Xi Gu³, Guan Heng Yeoh³, Charles G. Cranfield^1,2, Victoria Timchenko³, Bruce A. Cornell^2,4, Stella M. Valenzuela^{1,2,5 1}School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, ²ARC Research Hub for Integrated Devices for End-user Analysis at Low-levels (IDEAL), Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, ³School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, The University of New South Wales, ⁴Surgical Diagnostics Pty Ltd., ⁵Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices, University of Technology Sydney This work outlines a protocol to achieve dynamic, non-invasive monitoring of heat transfer from laser-irradiated gold nanoparticles to tBLMs. The system combines impedance spectroscopy for the real-time measurement of conductance changes across the tBLMs, with a horizontally focused laser beam that drives gold nanoparticle illumination, for heat production.

• Bioengineering

  
  Transplantation of a 3D Bioprinted Patch in a Murine Model of Myocardial Infarction Christopher D. Roche^1,2,3,4, Carmine Gentile^{1,2,3 1}The University of Sydney, ²University of Technology Sydney (UTS), ³The Royal North Shore Hospital, ⁴University Hospital of Wales This protocol aims to transplant a 3D bioprinted patch onto the epicardium of infarcted mice modeling heart failure. It includes details regarding anesthesia, the surgical chest opening, permanent ligation of the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery and application of a bioprinted patch onto the infarcted area of the heart.

• Environment

  
  In Situ Chemotaxis Assay to Examine Microbial Behavior in Aquatic Ecosystems Estelle E. Clerc¹, Jean-Baptiste Raina², Bennett S. Lambert³, Justin Seymour², Roman Stocker^{1 1}Institute of Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zürich, ²Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology Sydney, ³School of Oceanography, University of Washington Presented here is the protocol for an in situ chemotaxis assay, a recently developed microfluidic device that enables studies of microbial behavior directly in the environment.

• Engineering

  
  Quantifying the Relative Thickness of Conductive Ferromagnetic Materials Using Detector Coil-Based Pulsed Eddy Current Sensors Nalika Ulapane¹, Karthick Thiyagarajan², David Hunt², Jaime Valls Miro^{2 1}Melbourne School of Engineering, University of Melbourne, ²Center for Autonomous Systems, University of Technology Sydney Here, we present a protocol to quantify the relative thickness (i.e., thickness as a percentage with respect to a reference) of conductive ferromagnetic materials using detector coil-based pulsed eddy current sensors, while overcoming the calibration requirement.

• Chemistry

  
  Luminescence Lifetime Imaging of O₂ with a Frequency-Domain-Based Camera System Maria Moßhammer*¹, Vincent V. Scholz*², Gerhard Holst³, Michael Kühl^1,4, Klaus Koren^{5 1}Marine Biological Section, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, ²Center for Electromicrobiology, Aarhus University, ³PCO AG, ⁴Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology Sydney, ⁵Aarhus University Centre for Water Technology, Section for Microbiology, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University We describe the use of a novel, frequency-domain luminescence lifetime camera for mapping 2D O2 distributions with optical sensor foils. The camera system and image analysis procedures are described along with the preparation, calibration and application of sensor foils for visualizing the O2 microenvironment in the rhizosphere of aquatic plants.

• Chemistry

  
  Color Spot Test As a Presumptive Tool for the Rapid Detection of Synthetic Cathinones Morgan Philp¹, Ronald Shimmon¹, Mark Tahtouh², Shanlin Fu^{1 1}Centre for Forensic Science, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), ²Australian Federal Police (AFP) Here we present a simple, inexpensive, and selective chemical spot test protocol for the detection of synthetic cathinones, a class of new psychoactive substances. The protocol is suitable for use in various areas of law enforcement that encounter illicit material.

• Biochemistry

  
  Optimal Preparation of Formalin Fixed Samples for Peptide Based Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Mass Spectrometry Imaging Workflows Matthew B. O'Rourke^1,2, Matthew P. Padula², Caine Smith³, Priscilla Youssef⁴, Stuart Cordwell¹, Paul Witting⁴, Greg Sutherland³, Ben Crossett^{1 1}Mass Spectrometry Core Facility, University of Sydney, ²Proteomics Core Facility, University of Technology Sydney, ³Neuropathology Group, Discipline of Pathology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Sydney, ⁴Redox Biology Group, Discipline of Pathology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Sydney This protocol describes a reproducible and reliable method for the sublimation-based preparation of formalin fixed tissue destined for imaging mass spectrometry.

• Medicine

  
  Imaging Metals in Brain Tissue by Laser Ablation - Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) Dominic J. Hare^1,2, Kai Kysenius³, Bence Paul⁴, Beate Knauer^5,6, Robert W. Hutchinson⁷, Ciaran O'Connor⁷, Fred Fryer⁸, Tom P. Hennessey⁸, Ashley I. Bush², Peter J. Crouch³, Philip A. Doble^{1 1}Elemental Bio-imaging Facility, University of Technology Sydney, ²Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, ³Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, ⁴School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, ⁵Research School, Ruhr University, ⁶Department of Physiology, Monash University, ⁷ESI Ltd., Bozeman, ⁸Agilent Technologies, Mulgrave Quantitatively mapping metals in tissue by laser ablation - inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is a sensitive analytical technique that can provide new insight into how metals participate in normal function and disease processes. Here, we describe a protocol for quantitatively imaging metals in thin sections of mouse neurological tissue.

• Biology

  
  Super-resolution Imaging of the Cytokinetic Z Ring in Live Bacteria Using Fast 3D-Structured Illumination Microscopy (f3D-SIM) Lynne Turnbull*¹, Michael P. Strauss*¹, Andrew T. F. Liew¹, Leigh G. Monahan¹, Cynthia B. Whitchurch¹, Elizabeth J. Harry^{1 1}The ithree Institute, University of Technology, Sydney Spatiotemporal information about dynamic proteins inside live cells is crucial for understanding biology. A type of super-resolution microscopy called fast 3D-structured illumination microscopy (f3D-SIM) reveals unique information about the cytokinetic Z ring in bacteria: both its bead-like appearance and the rapid dynamics of FtsZ within the ring.

• Biology

  
  Isolation of Small Noncoding RNAs from Human Serum Samantha Khoury¹, Pamela Ajuyah¹, Nham Tran^{2,3 1}School of Medical and Molecular Biosciences, Faculty of Science, University of Technology, Sydney, ²Centre for Health Technologies, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology, Sydney, ³The Sydney Head and Neck Cancer Institute, Sydney Cancer Centre, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital This protocol describes a method for extracting small RNAs from human serum. We have used this method to isolate microRNAs from cancer serum for use in DNA arrays and also singleplex quantitative PCR. The protocol utilizes phenol and guanidinium thiocyanate reagents with modifications to yield high quality RNA.